Serious Sam Collection Review

One of 2020’s biggest gaming disappointments

Xbox Series S screenshot taken by the author.

I’ve been a fan of Croteam’s Serious Sam franchise since its first launch back in 2001. Its combination of energetic shooting action, hordes of enemies, vibrant visual design, and relentless pacing puts it near the top of the first person shooter genre in my mind. Serious Sam may not have the polish of true gaming legends like the Doom series, but it has the same heart and blissful fun at its core. Over the last few months, I had the joy of playing through the entire franchise with a friend through its online co-op mode on PC, and it’s still as thrilling today as it has ever been.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to classify Serious Sam Collection’s new console release as anything other than a disappointment. It was released a couple of weeks ago for Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch for $29.99 after spending the last several months as a Stadia exclusive. The basis for the collection is an essentially-abandoned Steam project called Serious Sam Fusion, itself a collection of games that were first released on PC and Xbox 360 almost a decade ago.

Anything here make it look like this should be locked at 30? No? No. Xbox Series S screenshot taken by the author.